Catholic Charities. Providing Help. Creating Hope.
VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.
MISSION: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.
GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Working to reduce poverty in half by 2020.
KEY VALUE: Hospitality
WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20)
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. (PS 118:24)
On Sunday, (The Resurrection of the Lord; The Mass of Easter Sunday http://usccb.org/bible/readings/042014.cfm ) we read from the Gospel of John about the early morning visit to the empty tomb by Jesus’ closest followers. There is confusion; amazement. Mary of Magdala says: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” But after Peter and John arrive they “saw and believed.” May this Easter day bring you and your family and friends the great Joy of Resurrection! May we too go out believing, shouting the Good News: Jesus is Risen!
http://lifeondoverbeach.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/resurrection.jpg
Sequence - Victimæ Paschali Laudes
Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful praises!
A Lamb the sheep redeems;
Christ, who only is sinless,
Reconciles sinners to the Father.
Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.
Speak, Mary, declaring
What you saw, wayfaring.
“The tomb of Christ, who is living,
The glory of Jesus’ resurrection;
bright angels attesting,
The shroud and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
to Galilee he goes before you.”
Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!
Amen. Alleluia.
Catholic Charities (http://www.ccdoy.org) daily shares this Good News with each person and family we encounter. Jesus has broken the chains of death and despair. There is hope and help. This Resurrection joy provides the prism of our work: we see each person made in the Image and Likeness of God and we know that Life is given to us, abundantly. This we want to share. Through your gifts of time, treasure and talent through Catholic Charities and the Bishop’s Appeal (https://15181.thankyou4caring.org/) you help the Church give that joy and hope to each client we encounter. Thanks.
Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/year-of-faith/images/year-of-faith-logo-montage.jpg
http://cmsimg.news-press.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=A4&Date=20130315&Category=OPINION&ArtNo=303150023&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Editorial-Pope-Francis-unique-chance
Pope Francis’ Homily at Palm Sunday
Vatican City, April 13, 2014 (Zenit.org) | http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-homily-at-palm-sunday
This week begins with the festive procession of olive branches: the whole people welcome Jesus. The children, the young people sing, they praise Jesus.
But this week then moves forward into the mystery of the death of Jesus and of his resurrection. We have heard the Passion of the Lord. We will do well to pose just a single question: Who am I? Who am I before my Lord? Who am I before Jesus who enters into Jerusalem? Am I capable of expressing my joy, of praising him? Or do I distance myself from him? Who am I before Jesus who suffers?
But this week then moves forward into the mystery of the death of Jesus and of his resurrection. We have heard the Passion of the Lord. We will do well to pose just a single question: Who am I? Who am I before my Lord? Who am I before Jesus who enters into Jerusalem? Am I capable of expressing my joy, of praising him? Or do I distance myself from him? Who am I before Jesus who suffers?
We have heard many names, many names. The group of leaders, some priests, some Pharisees, some teachers of the Law, who have decided to kill him. They waited for the opportunity to seize him. Am I like one of them?
We have also heard another name: Judas. 30 pieces of silver. Am I like Judas? We heard other names: the disciples who understood nothing, who slept while the Lord suffered. Do I sleep through my life? Or am I like the disciples, who did not understand what it meant to betray Jesus? Am I like that other disciple who wanted to resolve everything with the sword? Am I like them? Am I like Judas, who pretends to lover and kissed the Master to hand him over, to betray him? Am I a traitor? Am I like the leaders who hastily put together the tribunal and look for false witnesses? Am I like them? And when I do these things, if I do them, do I believe that I save the people in this way?
Am I like Pilate? When I see that the situation is difficult, do I wash my hands and not know how to accept my responsibility and let people be condemned, or condemn them myself?
Am I like that crowd that did not know whether it was in a religious meeting, a trial or a circus, and chooses Barabbas? For them it was the same: it was more entertaining to humiliate Jesus.
Am I like the soldiers who strike the Lord, spit upon him, insult him, have fun humiliating him?
Am I like the Cyrenian who was returning from work, tired, but who had the good will to help the Lord carry the cross?
Am I like those who passed in front of the cross and joked about Jesus: “He was so courageous! Let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him! Joking about Jesus...
Am I like those courageous women, and like Jesus’ Mother, who were there, suffering in silence?
Am I like Joseph, the hidden disciple, who carried Jesus’ body with love, to put him in the tomb?
Am I like the 2 Marys who remain at the tomb crying, praying?
Am I like those leaders who on the following day went to Pilate to say: “Look, he said that he would be raised. Make sure that more deception does not happen!” and hold back life, block the tomb to defend doctrine, so that life does not come out?
Where is my heart? Which of these people am I like? May this question accompany us this whole week.
Some important date(s) this week:
See website http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.
FRIDAY APRIL 25. St. Mark.
Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark's mother.)
Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul's refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Because Paul later asks Mark to visit him in prison, we may assume the trouble did not last long.
The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus' rejection by humanity while being God's triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome—after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark's Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a "scandal": a crucified Messiah.
Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him "my son"), Peter is only one of the Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile).
Like one other Gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52).
Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains.
A winged lion is Mark's symbol. The lion derives from Mark's description of John the Baptist as a "voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the evangelists.
Comment:
Mark fulfilled in his life what every Christian is called to do: proclaim to all people the Good News that is the source of salvation. In particular, Mark's way was by writing. Others may proclaim the Good News by music, drama, poetry or by teaching children around a family table.
Quote:
There is very little in Mark that is not in the other Gospels—only four passages. One is: “...This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).
Patron Saint of: Notaries
For daily readings, visit USCCB Website (http://usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month)
CHARITIES NEWSBYTES
http://www.crsricebowl.org/wp-content/themes/crsricebowl2014/images/crs-rice-bowl-logo.pngLent ended on Holy Thursday..the day of the Rice Bowl collection. Please consider an online donation at https://15181.thankyou4caring.org/orb
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
April
- Ecology and Justice. That governments may foster the protection of creation and the just distribution of natural resources.
- Hope for the Sick. That the Risen Lord may fill with hope the hearts of those who are being tested by pain and sickness.
Corporal Works of Mercy: The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
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TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY
for current updates and calls to action that we can all use.
For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at: http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com
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